Masks of Something

There are masks.

We finished exploring the first floor much to the annoyance of the good gnome before moving upstairs. The owners of this manor obviously have far too many possessions for I have never beheld one residence with so many rooms devoted solely to storage. While exploring the second floor we found the owners room, in which was secreted his journal.

It was most fortunate that I was here and could make sense of it. The owner was a mage who had summoned a demon. Unfortunately he had made a simple mistake in his summoning circle that had incompletely bound the demon. The younger races are always in a rush, but you can hardly blame them when your lifespan is a paltry seventy years if you are lucky. Upon finding the summoning room the foul demon attempted to gain his freedom with lies and bribes. Instead I completed the circle fully binding the demon and ending his influence in this hamlet.

Upon further study of the journal we were able to obtain a clue to the location of a mask to aid us in our search. We contructed a raft to take us back to the ship and sailed off into the sunset to continue our quest for the masks.

Jumping ahead to the most recent session.

After killing the cleric of the plaguelord and saving Charilus’s niece we were hailed as heroes. We recovered the sage’s books Charilus sent us to find and began our trip to return the books to the mage. Along the way we were halted by a group of soldiers attempting to steal our mask. We gave them a sound thrashing.

Upon presenting Charilus the books for his research we were dismissed to the inn to enjoy ourselves and make merry on his coin. We were summoned upon completion of his research and were informed that he was moving his base of operations to Landover. After suffering the indignity of being his movers and setting up in Landover we were ordered to secure passage on a ship to journey to the village of Lands Edge to begin our search for the next mask.

The night before we embarked on our voyage the priest Omaar found an invitation had been deposited in his pocket to discuss potential future employment opportunities. Upon arriving at the designated location we met a half elven agent of the Duke who is also searching for these masks. We learned that he had been behind the soldiers sent after us on a couple of occasions. The agent also informed us that the first mask stolen from us was not his doing. We politely refused his offer and surprisingly no blood was shed.

We arrived in Lands Edge to find it deserted. As we set about exploring we heard a commotion back at the docks. Returning we found sailors who had come ashore with us were missing and there was a foul slime trail leading into the water. Our attempts to find the monster were unsuccessful. We were then set upon by a band of stirges that were effortlessly dispatched by the good gnome and his advanced tortoise based weaponry.

It was decided that the manor house on the hill overlooking town was the logical place to begin our investigation. We were forced to slay a few mephits on our way up to the manor and entering the house we found the bodies of the town guard. This obviously encouraged us to explore further.

Flavor text rules the day!

We don’t know how the adventurers came together, but they have.

We open on the party of adventurers coming upon the town of Landover where they are immediately approached by a dark-skinned man with greasy hair and mustache, named Omar. Omar presents them with an offer for caltrops with one missing point (Still 75% effective, my friends).

When no one bites on his special offer, he lures them in with a story of the hidden treasure of an expired silver merchant from the area, rumored to still be hidden in a cave a few hours outside of town. Small catch: there may be some type of monster guarding the cave, but nothing these brave adventurers can’t handle readily.

The adventurers arrive at the cave, and spend much time outside, wallowing in guano, trying to figure out how to get the monster out of the cave.

The beast is awakened by all the arguing outside its lair, and emerges ready to fight, revealing itself to be an older, worse-for-wear Manticore.

The party has no trouble facing the lame, sorry excuse for a monster, and slay it directly. They search the cave and quickly find the treasure they have worked so hard for.

42 silver

Smashed China Plate (worthless)

Small laquered wooden box with a small silver hook and eye closure (5 gold for the box)

Upon opening the box, they find a simple, black domino mask, which is very flimsy looking, but undamaged. The barbarian priest immediately tried the mask on, and immediately felt some type of magical effect, but before they could do more than that, the manticore’s mate, a fully operational Chimera approached and was out to avenge its mate.

Things were looking bad for the party when suddenly, Deus ex Machina appeared to save them! In this case, Charilus shot down the Chimera with one Lightning bolt from his hands. He then demands that the party meet him back in town to discuss matters further. He then teleports back to town without offering to take the party with him (he’s grumpy).